Apple Spend Over 15% On R&D, Comes At Level With iPhone Development Period

The most common approach of the Silicon Valley giant means that it is spending only a small percentage of its revenue on R&D – Research and Development – but in its most recent fiscal quarter, the tech giant hiked up its R&D spending significantly.

Apple has more people working on R&D

Before in comparison to other tech companies, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker was spending smaller percentage of its revenue on R&D. In its report, the news site Wall Street Journal noted that the tech giant increased its R&D spend by 15% in the quarter that ended in July. By doing this, the tech company hit a total of $11.2B for the 12-month period.

When you see this report in percentage terms, things get even more interesting – The WSJ notes, “[That’s] about 5% of the company’s revenue for the period. Apple hasn’t expended a greater portion of its revenue on R&D on an annual basis since 2004—three years before the first iPhone launched. That suggests other big things on the horizon.”

This means that the Silicon Valley giant is spending nearly as much on research and development now as it was spending during the development of its most important gadget – the iPhone. The values are hard to parse. The tech giant is a huge company today and it has more overhead across the board that it had before. But the financial report of the tech is specifically suggesting that it has significantly more people working on R&D.

Apple working on autonomous systems and AR

In its quarterly filing, the tech giant notes a hike in headcount-related expenses to supported expanded research and development activities. According to several reports, the Silicon Valley giant is known to be working on autonomous systems and augmented reality that may or may not include a self-driving car. In addition to this, it is being said that the tech giant has a keen interest in the health field. Currently, we have equivalent to nil information about the tech giant’s plans in the health field.

Moreover, there are reports that the Cupertino-based iPhone maker may be extending its augmented reality work to a more consumer-friendly Google Glass style product but it is also believed that the tech giant could perhaps be depending more heavily on the iPhone display than a built-in one.

Nishtha Singh is a iStartup staff reporter who covers tech news, including review of devices, emerging startups, acquisitions, gadgets, Cars, Cloud, EVs, AR, VR, AI and more. Further, she is a reader, a tech-enthusiast, and a writer. Editor at Teenage Publishing and proof-reader at Evoque Publishing.